News

2025 VVCC Volunteer of the Year — Al Milavec

Tonight, I have the honor of recognizing someone whose dedication, consistency, and heart have made an extraordinary impact on the VVCC and the trails we all love.

Our 2025 Volunteer of the Year is someone most of you know well!

If there’s a volunteer trail workday happening, whether it’s with the VVCC or Friends of the Forest, you can count on one thing: Al Milavec is there.

Al shows up — rain, shine, cold mornings, long days — he’s there with tools in hand, ready to work. He is a very capable trail builder; someone the Red Rock Trail Crew trusts. In fact, there’s a running joke that Al should just go ahead and apply to join the crew officially! Kevin’s ready to hire him too :)

Al’s impact goes beyond trailwork. When the VVCC hosts events — Al is there. He’s manning the grills, helping out with food & logistics, and pitching in to help out. Al brings the same spirit of service to our social events as he does to trail work.

What makes Al stand-out isn’t just the hours he contributes — though there are many. It’s the “Al-ness” that he contributes. He strengthens our community through his steady presence, his craftsmanship, his reliability, and his willingness to pitch in & help.

Al, you embody what it means to be a VVCC volunteer: Dedicated. Skilled. Community-minded.

On behalf of the entire membership & the board— Al, thank you for everything you do.

Please congratulate the 2025 VVCC Volunteer of the Year, Al Milavec!

Highlights of our collective accomplishments in 2025:

**On the trail front, VVCC volunteers with the Red Rock Trail Crew supported 23 volunteer trail workdays and over 2500 hrs.

We supported our first Women’s Trail Workday through Amo’s efforts from SMBA, over 30 women came out to build “Extra Credit”.

We also started construction at Turkey Creek. And on the Prescott side, we finished Quail Springs and completed the connection from Copper Chief to Black Canyon.

And the road crew held three highway clean-ups.

**On the membership & Events front, VVCC is up to 340 members!

We supported 10 events, attended by over 500 members. Turkey Creek and Copper Chief were standout events, giving everyone a first look at the new construction. And The MBAA race series was a blast this year — thank you, Doug Sullivan, for leading the charge.

A huge shout-out to Mike Raney, for his ongoing efforts with the Sedona Mt Bike Festival – contributing over $5,000 to VVCC this year. And Welcome & Thanks to Greg DeCori – TMB new Manager for supporting the Raffle tonight.

And we can’t forget, the Amazing Adventure Race, put on by SMBA, has become one of the most-anticipated VVCC outings.

And A huge thank-you to Mike Coyne, who organizes our largest events of the year — our Picnics and this very Holiday Party. These gatherings are true community gatherings, and we’re grateful for his work bringing us all together.

**On the advocacy front, a lot happened.

We pushed for a Trails Position at the City of Sedona — and I’m thrilled to announce that Phil Yates has joined the City as the Bike Park Coordinator, and we’re still pushing for more good news & progress on that front.

We stayed actively engaged in the Cultural Park planning process to ensure trail access and thoughtful connectivity.

We raised over $13,000 for Turkey Creek!

And the MTB Advocacy Committee has been hard at work putting together our Wish List for what’s next on the Red Rock Ranger District after Turkey Creek, which is behind me. If you have not come up to take a look and provide your feedback, please do.

One of the most important advocacy efforts this year was protecting Western public lands. Together with outdoor enthusiasts across the country, we helped stop the public land sale proposal!

*** Finally, A call out to Bryan Pack, who joined the VVCC Board this year. Stand up.

And a huge thank-you to Wheel Fun and the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund for supporting our incredible Red Rock Trail Crew, several of whom are here tonight. Please stand up.

To every VVCC member & Red Rock Trail Crew member: thank you.

2025 was a remarkable year! Cheers, everyone — and let’s enjoy the night!

Letter sent by VVCC: Selling off Public Lands - VVCC - 061625.pdf

Letter sent by Kevin Adams: Senator Kelly.pdf

Template Letter for members: VVCCletterdraftformemberspjm.docx

Email/Call script to Senate Energy and National Resources Committee: Senate Committee Note.pdf

Contact information for Senate Energy and National Resources Committee: Senate Committee Contact Information.pdf

During National Bike Month, people from all over the country celebrate the benefits of biking. In the Verde Valley, we celebrate Bike Month to encourage active transportation for everyone from bike enthusiasts to people who are new to biking. Riding a bike is a fun, sustainable, social, and healthy way to get around. It also alleviates traffic and reduces air pollution.

Calendar Below and check out the BAC website for the full details of each event and the month long activities!

In 2024, VVCC continued our focus on membership growth and worked to prioritize our advocacy efforts. 

MEMBERSHIP & EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Added 58 members, bringing our total membership to 314
• Hosted and supported monthly (or more) events with the support of our Business Sponsors and membership with special call-outs to:
• • Amo & Evan from Sedona Mountain Bike Academy for the Amazing Adventure Challenge
  • Mike Raney for VVCC's expanded presence at the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival ,raising close to $10k with 50 volunteer
  • Greg Miranda and all the volunteers that put on the local bike races (Verde Valley Rally & Yavapai Hussle)
  • And, thanks to Marcella, Kirstin, Tim Miller, Joanna, Phil, Thunder Mountain Bikes, Bike & Bean and Sedona Beer Co for hosting and/or leading one of our monthly events.
• Evan Puglia joined the VVCC Board

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Generated a $6K surplus, which was donated to Wheel Fun (WF), Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund (SRRTF) and Verde Trail Fund (VTF).
• Advocated for the Red Rock Ranger District (RRRD) Seasonal Trail Crew (RRTC), & thanks to WF & SRRTF, the RRTC is fully staffed.
• Supported trail workdays on both the RRRD and Prescott National Forest (PNF).
• Singletrack Bypass & Hardline are both close to completion on the RRRD.
• RRTAP (Red Rock Trails Access Plan) Phase II is very close to being signed, and Turkey Creek trail work days are planned for March.
• Quail Springs is being built off of Copper Chief/Black Canyon in the PNF.
• The Road crew held 3 highway clean-up days, assisted BAC with a Bike Audit and pushed for Bike lane & safety improvements between Clarkdale and Cottonwood.

VVCC is sponsoring a VVCC XC MBAA 2025 team!

Join in on the FUN with fellow VVCC members!

Details:

1. VVCC Members only are eligible to be on the VVCC XC team.
2. The 2025 MBAA race schedule is here and below.
   • Here are the full XC Team Rules.
3. Doug Sullivan will be the VVCC XC team Captain. Feel free to reach out to Doug, if you have any questions.
4. If you are interested in joining the VVCC XC team, please reach out to Tracy Randall or Kevin Adams to validate your active VVCC membership, and we'll introduce you to Doug Sullivan.
5. VVCC will have a pop-up tent at the events for VVCC team members to hang out. TBD refreshments & TBD race food will also be at the pop-up for the team.
6. The team name for registration is VVCC.
7. You don't have to attend all the races to be on the VVCC team. We ask that you attend at least 1 event to race or volunteer at the event.
8. MBAA has provided over $20,000 to Verde Valley trails, and this is a great way to show your support!
9. For experienced racers, this provides you a VIP race experience.
10. For new riders & racers, this is a perfect, low-stress way to join a race with fellow VVCC members, have fun and have a new experience!
11. We're hoping for a sizeable VVCC team!